The emergence and development of 'Beautiful Things' craft project in the inner city of Johannesburg

Abstract:

The emergence and development of tourism attractions in inner cities
throughout the world has given rise to a number of scholarly debates in the
academic study of urban tourism. While academic scholarship in the field of
urban tourism began with the cities of the developed states mostly in the
1980s, the emergence and development of tourism initiatives in the inner
cities of the developing states in 1990s has drawn a great deal of attention to
the South as well. This research explores the emergence and development of
an inner city tourism initiative in the form of a craft project known as Beautiful
Things.
Beautiful Things is a two-year-old craft project located at Newtown’s Cultural
Precinct, in the inner city of Johannesburg. The project was inaugurated at the
World Summit on Sustainable Development in August 2002, and has since its
relocation to the inner city of Johannesburg in December 2002, contributed
significantly to the physical, social and economic regeneration of this area.
The study of this project is very important in that it is shedding some light on
the role of heritage and cultural industries in rejuvenating declining inner
cities. It gives light on how Newtown Cultural Precinct as a whole functions
within the inner city of Johannesburg. In spite of this project’s role in the
development of the Johannesburg inner city, Beautiful Things has not yet
been explored for academic research. This research on Beautiful Things is set
to be informative on a number of theoretical issues underpinning the
development of urban heritage and cultural tourism in general and the
development of tourism in Johannesburg. The findings of the study of Beautiful Things hopes to reveal important international trends on the
development of heritage and cultural attractions in inner cities and to elucidate
a number of similarities in the development of tourism policies across the
cities of the world.
This research begins with a chapter on the international experiences of
heritage and cultural tourism developments in inner cities and is then followed
by a study of Johannesburg’s tourism policy and strategy developments. Both
chapters are vital in providing the context under which Beautiful Things came
to emerge in the inner city of Johannesburg, performing an important role of
regenerating the declining inner city. The last part of this research is an empirical confirmation study of physical, social and economic contributions of
Beautiful Things in the inner city of Johannesburg. The research is informed
by theories of neo-liberalization, local economic development, and inner city
regeneration.